Shhhh…Secret Vegan Cooking Class

I am preparing for my fourth vegan cooking talk and demonstration. The secret is that it is not technically a vegan cooking class—I have been invited by the Essex County Garden Club to talk about how to use winter vegetables.

The back story: Last spring I joined a CSA. I bought one share for our family and had the pleasure of visiting Alprilla Farm each Wednesday afternoon to choose whatever I desired. Each week I brought home a giant bag packed to the brim with the most beautiful organically grown vegetables. The selection was vast—eight or nine types of greens and heirloom tomatoes, several types of beets, onions, carrots, peppers, kale and squashes. Cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, beans, soy beans, and much, much more. Whenever I arrived, I met someone new and fun to talk with about how to prepare and eat the bounty offered. I met a woman named Nina who seemed to be on my schedule and she would follow me around, asking what to do with celeriac, or how I managed to get my kids to eat kale.

It turns out that she is the event planner for the Essex County Garden Club. One afternoon, she asked if I would be interested in sharing my knowledge about vegetables—why they are good to eat and how to prepare some of the more daunting ones—and I knew it would be a wonderful opportunity to teach how to cook vegetables. It would also be a chance to share vegan cooking with a lot of people— a chance to be on the offense about being vegan! I knew I would be be able to show the beauty in the way I choose to eat without having to do anything other than be myself.

So I’m in my kitchen. I want to show off, thus I have been prepping all day. I clean, peel and dice beets, carrots, red potatoes and sweet potatoes. I wash kale and tear the leaves from the stems. I spiral slice beets and carrots. I make ginger nama shoyu dressing for steamed vegetables. I scurry out to my garden and cut fresh rosemary and sage. The show-stopper will definitely be the beet and carrot “noodles” turned from the spiral slicer because I also make my delicious vegan Alfredo sauce with mushrooms.

I make raw ginger cookies for dessert sampling, too, taking the time to press out the dough and cut hearts with a cookie cutter, because it’s close to Valentine’s Day and I love to share these amazingly simple and flavorful treats. (And because Nina, who came to one of my vegan cooking classes here in my kitchen and tried one before, asked so nicely.)

Raw Ginger Cookies

The plan is to roast some vegetables in garlic olive oil, steam some and serve with quinoa and ginger nama shoyu dressing, and boil the noodles and serve with the Alfredo sauce. Then cookies. I know everyone will ask for the sauce recipe, so here it is.

Prep for Essex County Garden ClubVegan Alfredo Sauce with Mushrooms top center and middle row second bowl in

3 T olive oil or flavored olive oi, divided (I like to use mushroom sage oil for this recipe, but plain is fine)

1 12 oz pkg sliced mushrooms

1 large sweet onion, diced

1/8 t crushed red pepper flakes

generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg

1 c peas, fresh or frozen

2 c vegetable stock or vegetable broth

1/3 c nutritional yeast

1/4 c minced fresh sage leaves

1/4 c orange juice concentrate

3 c raw baby spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat 2 T oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, turn heat to high, and cook, tossing every few minutes, until mushrooms begin to brown and they release their liquid.

Heat the remaining T oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook about 7 minutes, or until onion is soft and beginning to brown.

Add the cooked onion to the mushrooms. Add nutmeg and crushed red pepper flakes, stir, and cook for another minute. Add the vegetable broth or stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the peas. Cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in the cashew cream and the nutritional yeast. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes more. Add the sage and the orange juice concentrate. Stir well to incorporate. Remove pan from heat and fold in the baby spinach. Grind a generous amount of black pepper into the sauce, taste, and add a little salt to taste.

*another way to make cashew cream: soak 1 c raw cashews in cold filtered water for at least an hour but overnight is fine, too. Drain, rinse, and drain again. Pour soaked cashews into a blender and add 1 c filtered water. Blend until smooth. Use for this recipe. Freeze any leftovers for next time. Keeps at least 3 months in freezer.

All packed up and ready to go. No room left in the fridge! Notice that somehow my kombucha scoby jar is front and center on the top shelf.